He moved to Detroit with his parents as a child and was educated at the Philo M. Patterson Classical School.

[1] He left the university as a junior to join his father's pharmaceutical manufacturing business, Frederick Stearns & Company.

[2] During his ownership, the team acquired a number of star players, including future Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Sam Thompson and Dan Brouthers.

He later moved to Beverly Hills and served on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

[3] Their Elizabethan home on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit was known as "Red Gables" and is now a registered historic site.